Rating: 4
Great Barry is normally inspired by subjects that have a depth of human journey. This space opera has a damning lack of that property. It is an Atari culture movie embodied by cute robots and space laser battles. As a result, the score tends to an emotional superficiality that does little to enlighten, enamour or involve us with the characters. Even so, The Black Hole represents a marvellous contradiction. Why? Because it transcends the dramatic mediocrity of the film and reveals itself as Barry’s musical Faust.
The music opens with an uncharacteristically bright overture that has a strange Battle Of Britain resemblance to it. This may have been added on later in the scoring process, as we know re-scoring took place and that the producer’s demanded a more Star Wars like opening.
Past the overture, the score starts with the vivid, swirling black hole theme and goes on to paint the film as a dark Marie Celeste story. A highlight of this episode is a serene, poignant dark waltz for a robot funeral. The score develops into a race against time using a demonic march that depicts the futile struggle against the inechaustible inhuman army. This theme is, sadly, omitted from the soundtrack album. The score climaxes with Into The Hole, which may have touched the Catholic in Barry. It evokes a apocalyptic descent to Hell before a beautiful heavenly ascent.
The Black Hole is an understandably popular score even if it is emotionally shallower than so many other Barry scores.